A Phantom Mystery
by draconisFlightling
Summary: DCAU/DP Batman investigates the GIW and finds conspiracies. JL ends up babysitting Lilith Fenton. Shenanigans ensue. More notes inside. Rating may be a bit high.
1. Chapter 1

Hi, this is my first fic ever posted. Tell me what you really think about my writing, even if its not good.

The story focuses on OC Lilith Fenton/Phantom. You could probably figure out most of the stuff about her just by her name. My goal is to have her personality walk the line between really awesome and really hate-able. She's gonna be a real smug kind of person. Tell me if you think I pulled that off or not as the story goes on, although there isn't much to go by on this chapter.

Danny is in his forties, his history and the history of Amity Park/FentonWorks/The Fenton's/etc will be explained as the story goes on, mostly from Lily's point of view.

PP did happen but events have happened since that have wiped most people's memories from what really happened. (Mainly a certain wishing ghost granting a reality altering wish)

And praise in the comments is always welcome, but really if there's anything you don't like, tell me why, because I have no idea how good of a writer I am.

...

"Shayara, GL, Diana," Mr. Terrific called over the intercom. "Alarms are going off at a government facility in rural Colorado. I need a group with experience to deal with government agents. Are you three available?"

Affirmations could be heard through the comm. links. No time was lost between the call and being beamed down with instructions near the emergency.

"Count me in as well," Batman could be heard over the comm. links, "The Guys in White are part of an ongoing investigation. Beam me to the location." Batman was not on the Watchtower at the time – in fact he rarely was as he was only a part time member of the League – but Mr. Terrific didn't hesitate to oblige.

The Justice League had dealt with many threats before, some by common criminals, others by carefully organized super villains. Heck, they had even thwarted several alien infestations. But even though they dealt with unusual events on a regular basis, the strangeness of it all never really truly wore off, and every once in a while the situation they were beamed into would take them slightly by surprise. What they saw as they gathered their bearings for this mission took their breaths away. Fire engulfed the buildings throughout the facility, soaring twenty feet over their heads and billowing black smoke. It wasn't that they had never dealt with fire before – in fact they had dealt with supernatural fires before – but the fact that it was blue still caught them off guard.

Diana was the first to get to the nearest group of locals – agents in sterile white suits.

"Your emergency set off an alarm at the Watchtower. Do you require any assistance?"

"Everyone is accounted for," One of the agents yelled over the roar of the fire. "All that's left is to put out the fire."

"Is there a body of water nearby?" Green Lantern asked.

"A river runs a few miles south of here, but I doubt water will put this out."

GL was off before the agent could object. There was a possibility that he was right, but there was no point in not trying.

"What caused the fire to be so blue?" Shayara wondered out loud. There were annoyed looks on many of the agents' faces, and a few muttered under their breaths.

Phantom.

"Who's Phantom?" Batman demanded, his stance affirming that he wouldn't leave without an answer.

"A menace that's given us nothing but trouble," The commanding agent smirked at his own vague answer.

**_BOOM!_**

The ground shook as one of the facility's buildings was reduced to falling debris in mere seconds. The commanding agent gave no explanation to the leaguers as he dispatched the rest of his crew to find the cause of the explosion.

"He's still here?! Get him! STOP HIM NOW!"

"We could help you find him." Wonder Woman offered. Normally the League trained members to hop right into the situation if lives were in danger, but previous experience had taught that when dealing with the government, always ask first.

"We have everything covered," the agent only argued.

"Ungrateful jerks," Shayara muttered under her breath, barely loud enough for her peers to hear.

"You have _no_ idea."

Everyone turned around to see who the enigmatic voice belonged to: an adult figure completely covered in a white cloak, with only iridescent green eyes glowing through the shadow of his hood.

The remaining agent didn't hesitate pulling out a weapon and firing at the figure.

"You're gonna need better aim than that, Agent K," the figure lazily said as he effortlessly glided out of range of each shot.

"You're not going to get away with this, Phantom!"

Phantom only chuckled and completely disappeared before the remaining Leaguers could jump into the fight. Agent K immediately checked a watch-like instrument on his wrist, only to curse under his breath and then be interrupted by his radio.

"_Sir, we're getting six different hits on the radar!_"

"Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, hunt down Phantom!" Batman immediately ordered, not bothering with permission to help, and then put a finger to his comm. link, "GL, you get fire duty."

He ignored the "Isn't that what I'm already doing?" reply that he got as he started to question Agent K about Phantom. He also tuned out Wonder Woman explaining to GL what just happened.

"Who's Phantom?" Batman repeated to the agent.

"A menace," Agent K replied equally as stubborn.

"A more detailed explanation," Batman growled.

"He's a ghost that's given us more than enough trouble." Agent K continued, narrow-eyed.

Batman only glared back until Agent K finally conceded.

"He's enemy number one. He's sabotaged most of our operations and has injured many of our agents."

"Last time I checked this agency doesn't exist."

"That's because we don't."

Another answer Batman didn't like. He continued his glare, but Agent K changed the subject.

"Phantom is a monster. He must be stopped at any cost."

"_Found him,_" both Shayara and Diana said over the comm. links at almost simultaneously.

"_At the north most corner._"

"_Near the southeast edge._"

"Can Phantom be in more than one place at once?" Batman demanded.

"He can duplicate. We've observed him in as many as seven places at one time," the agent replied unwavering.

"_Five more to go,_" Batman replied over the comm. link before joining the hunt. He barely heard Agent K mutter as he ran off.

"Stupid superheroes trying to butt into everything."

"_Make that six. I lost mine,_" Wonder Woman countered.

"_Mine disappeared when I hit it with my mace,_" Shayara added.

Almost immediately, Batman spotted Phantom observing another building going up in flames. He was prevented from approaching the copy by a green shield not unlike Green Lantern's. He knew it wasn't his was because it swirled with an iridescence, while John's constructs were always a solid green – although, it didn't hurt to know that John was elsewhere as well.

Phantom turned to see Batman, searching him up and down with glowing eyes before disappearing. The shield disappeared soon after.

Green Lantern could be seen a ways off, dragging behind him a large construct carrying water and then dumping it on a nearby building.

"_At least we now know that water can be used to put out the fire,_" he offered, having heard all the commotion on the comm. links, and then set off for more water.

After that, Batman noticed a large group of agents surrounding another Phantom and being thoroughly punished for it. He arrived at the scene the same time as Hawkgirl and no sooner had the two placed themselves between the agents and Phantom, did he stop his attack.

"Please stand aside. I have no beef against the Justice League."

"You set fire to a government facility!" Shayara yelled, raising her mace.

"And I pulled the fire alarms long before I did," he responded coolly.

"And that makes it okay?!" Shayara started to attack, but Phantom expertly dodged her mace, once even completely disappearing only to reappear behind her.

"No. It makes this a distraction," Batman deduced. He caught the faintest look of approval from Phantom before he disappeared completely. "Shayara, fly me up."

She did as she was told.

"That building in the middle," Batman pointed.

"It's the only one not on fire," Shayara realized, and flew the two of them to it and around to find the entrance. The security keypad they had found had already been sabotaged.

"What is this place?" She asked as they explored inside. All of the walls were covered in open compartments, and as they wandered they found themselves in a room full of equipment of questionable purpose.

"An interrogation room," Batman concluded out loud.

"Interrogation as in torture," Shayara rebuked.

"It's a prison. The compartments were cells; all of the prisoners have been removed already."

"Not all of them," Shayara had left the room and was pointing down the hall. At its end was another similarly broken keypad, its accompanying door ajar and still creaking. Shayara rushed to it, mace in her grip. It was then Batman noticed a darkened window next to the door. Movement and a slight glow could be seen behind it.

"Wait!" Batman nearly shouted to Shayara as he followed behind her. He searched the wall near the window for a switch, the reward: a light flooding the hall from the other side of it – a one-way mirror. In the room on the other side was Phantom, sitting criss-cross on the floor holding what appeared to be a heavily injured teenage girl in his arms.

Shayara nearly dropped her mace.

"Who is she?" She demanded.

"The reason behind this whole fiasco," Phantom answered, "You saw the Guys in White. They have radar that can track me down no matter how far I go. I could get her out of this place, but there is absolutely nowhere I can take her to keep her safe."

"This whole thing was to get our attention so you could pass her off to us." Batman deduced.

"What makes you think we'd help you?" Shayara countered.

"You're the Justice League. You could consider us the biggest threat to Earth's survival since Darkseid, but you'd still treat her with more respect than the Guys in White ever did." Phantom stood up with the girl in his arms and looked around wildly, as if sensing something beyond Batman's and Shayara's capabilities. "They're searching the building now, grab hold of me and I can teleport us out. They can't know you were in here. The less they know that you know about them the better."

Batman didn't hesitate to put a hand on Phantom's shoulder. If Phantom really was trying to rescue this girl from the Guys in White, there was no reason for him not to do what he said he would, and everything he had done up until this point suggested that he really was here to help her. It would also be wrong to leave her here, even if she were a criminal of the worst kind. Although, he doubted she got those injuries she had before she found herself in the custody of the Guys in White. They were too fresh, and the interrogation room was ominous enough. Shayara, on the other hand, looked at the two of them strangely for a long moment before finally following suit. A white ring appeared around the four of them. It split into two, one going up and the other down, and as they did, the scenery changed from the stark white room to the wilderness just beyond the facility.

"_Batman, Shayara, are you two okay? You're comm. link signals jumped more than a mile,_" they heard Mr. Terrific exclaim over the comms.

"We're fine. Prepare to beam me up with an injured passenger." Batman said as he took the girl from Phantom. Despite his assumption that she was unconscious, she reached out and grabbed a fistful of Phantom's cloak.

"I can't go with you, Lily, but I never abandoned you." Phantom consoled. He turned back to the Leaguers. "I'll keep the Guys in White distracted." He said before disappearing once again.

"Shayara, Diana, John, help put out the fire before you return."

Shayara nodded and flew off as affirmations could be heard over the comm. link.

Batman sighed as he felt the girl fidget. A few seconds later the teleportation beam engulfed the two of them, and before they were even cemented in the Watchtower, nurses swarmed around him to take the girl away to get proper medical care. He barely got a good look at how injured she was, but it was enough to know that it was bad.

Another sigh. Time to figure out what just happened.


	2. Chapter 2

Yay, another chapter! Don't expect updates to always be this fast, I've just already wrote the first few chapters of this fic before I posted the first one and I'm too excited to see what people think to not share them.

Reviews:

Whowantstoknow: I will remember you in my heart forever for being my first reviewer and leaving such a nice long comment with advice. :) Thanks for the nitpick on the fire, I suppose I should keep a more careful eye on details like that. As for Batman being a part time leaguer, it's been a while since I actually watched JL and JLU, and that was something that I was pretty sure I had remembered correctly, and it leaves Batman more open to do his own thing, which he tends to do a lot. I wouldn't say I hate the GIW, more like "love to hate" and I wanted to make them as hate-able as possible in this story. I'll also probably be jumping POV every chapter, and won't be in Lily's POV often, or reach it for a few more chapters.

booklover4177: I'm glad you like it! I was worried most people would be all like "oh an OC Im leave now" and stuff.

Chicaalterego: My absolute biggest worry is accidentally turning Lily into a Mary Sue. I'm also worried about people misinterpreting her big ego as a Mary Sue trait. She'll talk pretty big but be rest assured I don't think I could write her doing half the things she claims without her having Mary Sue luck or skills. But she also inherited all of Danny's powers, and is currently 17, three years older than canon Danny Phantom, who is already very powerful, plus already knowing all of the things Danny and his parents spent the last thirty years or so researching and discovering, AND having the advantage of training some of her powers her whole entire life, not just fourteen and up. And add the fact that her personality leans more towards planning than acting and is very pragmatic (basically she thinks a lot like Vlad or Batman), and she can be pretty lethal. But yeah, Mary Sue is definitely a thing I'm worried about and reminding me to not get carried away.

...

AN: you know the first episode of the Justice League, and how they fought off a Martian invasion? The astronauts in that episode I think were called the first to go to Mars. In this story's continuity, Danny was captain of a crew that was supposed to get that honor, but because of ghost shenanigans, the government made a huge cover-up for the trip and the disclosed story is that something malfunctioned that prevented them from landing on Mars surface, but that they did orbit it for a while before returning to Earth. (Not that any of that is really plot relevant.)

…

It had been three days since Batman had brought the girl to the Watchtower, and he exhausted every clue he had. He had scoured the internet for news on Phantom, only to find contradictory information. It was as if someone had scrubbed the net clean of any useful information. What little he could find seemed to suggest that people either didn't know about him, hated him, or owed their life to him. The only two solidly (as solid as anything is on the internet, at least) accepted facts were that he was a ghost, and that the CEOs of FentonWorks Enterprise knew him personally.

FentonWorks – the company that made ghost hunting equipment – which was all good and well, except that they were based in AmityPark – that little town that the government all but wiped off the face of the earth. Nothing was allowed in or out without clearance, and the government made it loud and clear that supers weren't exceptions. He'd either have to pull a few favors to get clearance as Wayne, or wait until the Fenton's left town, which although they did quite often, would require a few days waiting for their next scheduled appointment. Instead, J'onn offered to enter the town undercover to set up a secure place to teleport to and from.

Batman had already known bits and pieces about the Fenton's. Being the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, Wayne had run into them at a few of the many events he went to which were organized for such people. The mister and missus always seemed a bit eccentric, but then many geniuses are. It had been obvious to him that Mrs. Fenton was the one with her head on her shoulders, and kept the company running, while Mr. Fenton knew mostly only about the technical theories behind their inventions. And they weren't the only ones successful in their family. Their only son and youngest daughter were NASA's most famous astronauts for several years, and their mission to Mars, though technically failed, still landed them in the history books, for being the first humans in the planet's orbit.

As Batman did more research on the family, he learned that the Fenton's son had been their only child to marry and have a kid of his own: Lilith Fenton. He had a growing hunch that this was the same Lily that the Justice League was now taking care of, although information on her remained elusive. He couldn't even find an image to confirm that it was her, which meant he would have to get one from Amity Park's records, making it one of J'onn's objectives.

His own city needed him! The only reason he was continuing with this case was because he was curious about the Guys in White. A small group of men in sterile white suits had waltzed into his city like they owned the place, in order to investigate a small event that they had called "inconsequential." They annoyed him to no end, and he did his best to reciprocate the behavior. Dressed like government officials, they were, and he knew the government better than that. Nothing was "inconsequential" to them, or they wouldn't investigate it in the first place. He had since followed the group back to home base and learned what they called themselves, as well as a few other locations they resided at. When he had heard the Watchtower alarms had gone off because of an incident near one of those locations, he jumped at the call to volunteer.

Now he had found himself in the middle of a conspiracy. These Guys in White had a suspiciously similar vibe to Project Cadmus, and Batman was going to get to the bottom of it. They were equally elusive as well. Without any information on the Guys in White freely available on the web and various databases he had scoured, he resorted to asking The Question several days ago about them, who didn't hesitate to explain that they were a shadow agency that specialized in ghost hunting. He also made very clear his opinion that they've done considerable research into collapsing other dimensions. Batman stopped him at that point and asked him to just track down some documents that cornered them.

There was also little good news in the way of Lily, as Phantom had called her. The nurses said that the monitors claimed she was periodically awake, but she never so much as turned in her bed, let alone respond to any outside stimuli. He had asked for their report when they were done checking her for injuries. When he read it, he grimaced, there were enough abuse-related injuries to make a lesser man than himself vomit. It was no small miracle she was still alive. He had visited her more than once – not that he would let anyone know it – to see that the Watchtower Medical Staff had her bandaged almost completely from head to toe: her eyes and nose, fingers and toes, fractures in her wrists, ankles, ribs – those were just the major injuries. By far the most disturbing was the gnarly-looking scar they found on her neck. A scan revealed that her vocal chords were missing. The doctors were so shocked that they did the scan again to be sure the machine hadn't malfunctioned, and then asked Superman himself for a second opinion.

Batman had seen a lot of crimes throughout his career, and it certainly didn't help that he lived in one of the most crime-infested cities in the country. But this took the cake. He would have never expected so much horror from anyone except maybe the Joker, and even that would have been a hard swallow. But the fact that this came from a shadow agency was what really make this seem so ominous. This was the work of street thugs, not high ranking special agents. This agency was basically a government funded gang.

He would make sure the Guys in White were brought to justice for this, if it was the last thing he did.

"Found you."

Batman turned to see Superman coming down the hall to the observation window he was at.

"Checking up on her again?"

Batman didn't answer. Superman silently stopped beside him to look through the same observation window. There was a long silence, but it wasn't awkward. The two heroes had known each other longer than any other member of the League. They had been through thick and thin, and had saved each other's lives countless times.

"You okay, Bruce?"

"Lost in thought."

"There aren't a lot of things that get you worked up. Do you need a breather? You've locked yourself away from everyone the last couple of days. Even from Barbara and Gotham – and yes, I did talk to her. You never ignore Gotham."

"I'm fine. Just working a new investigation."

"If you say so. Oh, and the reason I came looking for you. J'onn got back from Amity Park. He found a positive ID for the girl."

"And?"

Superman held a photo ID up before continuing. "Lilith Madeline Fenton. 17. Only child of Daniel Fenton, MIA, and his wife, a deceased Samantha Manson. Was arrested two weeks ago, but the record didn't say for what, by who, or where she went. I'm going to take a leap and say that's how she got into these so called Guys in White's custody."

Batman shook his head while examining the photo. The fiery red hair certainly matched in shade and length.

"Something wrong?"

"I suspected that was who she was from the beginning. She's the heir to the FentonWork's Fortune."

"That's what J'onn said. He also mentioned how her life history seems oddly vague; he can't find anything between the ages of three and sixteen. No records exist. No school, dentistry, medical check-ups, she doesn't even have a driver's license. About FentonWorks, though. Isn't that the company known for making ghost hunting equipment? And Phantom is supposedly a ghost, which J'onn said that's all people will agree on the matter in Amity Park. So what was he doing rescuing a ghost hunter?"

"I got a better question: what were the Guys in White doing with a ghost hunter?"

A movement came from the bed; Lily was yawning, although the heart monitor stayed steady. Wait, was it slowing down?

"She's awake," Superman needlessly said.

At that exact moment Lily sat bolt upright. If there hadn't been bandages across her face, Batman was sure he would have seen them peeled open in fright. She immediately struggled to pull her IV out, and was so frantic about it and made such a commotion that she fell off of the bed in the process. There was a strange dissonance between the commotion and the slowing heart rate that unnerved Batman. Doctors and nurses swarmed in as he and Superman found themselves trying to calm her down. She made no noise, but her lips moved fast as if she were frantically trying to say something.

"Can you understand what she's saying?" Batman asked.

"She's too frantic. It's all mumbling," Superman answered after a moment of trying to read her lips. He then directed his attention to his comm. link to call J'onn.

One doctor pulled out one rather large needle that was supposed to knock her out, but as luck would have it, Lily managed to get out of Batman's grip and stick it in the leg of a nurse. After that she immediately collapsed and Batman pulled her out of the commotion for more incoming doctors to assess.

"Everyone stop!" J'onn commanded as he floated in through the floor. Even Lily jumped at the sound and followed suit. J'onn gave everyone several seconds to get their bearings. Doctors and nurses examined their own injuries, which beside two knock-outs – one of which was starting to come to – also included more than a few bloody noses and several bruises getting gnarlier by the minute. Most of them filed out, until only two (uninjured) nurses remained.

At the same time all of this occurred, each of the three supers kept a careful eye on the girl as she finally succeeded in getting the IV out and started paying attention to the blood on her hands courtesy of the few unlucky noses (and being joined by the blood running from the now gaping hole in her arm). At first she was feeling it between her fingers, and then sniffed it as if to confirm it was what she thought. Then she looked toward her five visitors.

_Who are you? _Her lips moved but made no noise.

"My name is J'onn J'onzz. This is Superman and Batman."

Lily only hugged her knees, turning away from facing them.

"The doctors want to put the IV back in."

_The reason I woke up was because I started reacting badly to it._ Lily didn't even bothering moving her lips anymore, and J'onn saw at the surface of her thoughts a distinct awareness that he was telepathic. She probably realized that when he said his name, as it was common knowledge, like Superman's strength and Batman's deductive reasoning skills. Instead J'onn repeated her thoughts out loud for Superman and Batman to hear.

"Why did you start reacting badly now; why not when it was first put in?" Batman asked, "and What do you mean exactly by 'react badly?'"

_I'm exhausted. Short answer: my body was human before I woke up. Now it's not. No IV._

"Help her back in bed," J'onn commanded, and the nurses started to clean her up to do just that. Lily didn't resist.

"What does that even mean?" Superman asked, but Lily was too busy paying attention to the nurses cleaning her up to hear him, and too exhausted to care. As soon as she was in bed, she was out like a light.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey look another chapter! This one is mostly about info-dumping, character-building and a little bit of background world-building. I have a two-week-long-twelve-hours-a-day job coming up so I'll try to get another chapter in before then but otherwise it'll be a few weeks before another update.

I know I said I'd probably change POV every chapter, so this is the last one in a row for Batman. I'll return to him as necessary to move forward his little investigation later.

Reviews:

Whowantstoknow: Thanks for all the thought provoking comments! One thing I'm hoping to figure out while practice writing on this site is how much info I have to feed the readers before they're able to put the picture together on their own. Too much information and the story is bogged down, not enough and it makes no sense. Also I have this story under the mystery genre, even though at the moment the mystery isn't really apparent. Sure Batman is researching the Phantoms, but all of the info he's going to find the readers already know or can guess. Also many of your comments relate to stuff I plan on expounding on within the next few chapters, so I'm glad to know I'm on the same page as my readers.

Fantasy-Mania31: Thank you!

...

The next morning, Batman was patiently waiting for the girl to wake up. He had reviewed security footage of the fight between the girl and the doctors and nurses. All medical staff on the Watchtower had basic self defense training, and procedures to deal with metahumans in case of incidents like this. They were supposed to call the supers in to help, but hadn't bothered as he and Superman had already been there. The girl had moved incredibly fast, and with an accuracy that was at odds with the fact that her eyes were covered by bandages. There was also the fact that she had slipped out of his grip. Nobody did that. Reviewing the tapes cleared things up only slightly. She had literally slipped _through _his grasp, as if she had some sort of intangibility power.

Where the heck did she get intangibility powers? If she really was the granddaughter of world famous ghost hunters and researchers, it would put her at odds against ghosts. And she was still alive; she'd have to be dead to actually _be_ a ghost, right? Was it possible that in all of her grandparents experimenting, she had gotten mixed up with some experimental substance, accidentally or otherwise, that had given her slightly ghostlike abilities? Would that explain why the Guys in White were so interested in her?

Speaking of ghosts and ghost hunters, if the Fenton's hunted ghosts, why was it common knowledge that they had a personal relationship with the ghost Phantom? Sure it might have been true, in fact Phantom seemed very protective of Lily, maybe even worryingly so, but why would everyone in Amity Park know it and not bat an eye at the fact that there was an alliance between a family of ghost hunters and a ghost?

He had questions, and he was going to get answers.

The heart monitor in Lily's room beat less than twenty beats per minute, half the speed he would consider normal. Even as she stirred and began to wake up, it didn't get above thirty beats per minute. Her body temperature was also dropping, but without any other symptoms of hypothermia, the doctors opted not to do anything about it. It wasn't like this was their most unusual case, and there was no shortage of powers that affected heart rates and body temperatures, and it probably had to do with whatever she meant by "not being human anymore."

"Care to continue explaining?" Batman asked. Lily shifted in her hospital bed to face the direction his voice came from, which seemed to take a lot of effort.

_Batman?_ It was much easier for Batman to read her lips now that she was no longer in a panic.

"Yes."

She nodded and seemed to relax slightly.

"What's your name?" A test question, to see if she would lie.

_Lily Fenton._ Close enough.

"Explain the IV incident."

_Complicated._

"I gathered as much."

She let out a hard breath and swallowed, but silence stretched on a while before she begrudgingly answered.

_I have the full genome of a human, but even though I'm fully human, I'm technically only half human, and because I'm only half human, my biology behaves like I'm not all that human at all._

The response got a raised eyebrow from Batman. He'd have to keep an eye on her, she had a talent of twisting that explanation around into a meaningless jumble of words, all while still sounding like she was revealing an oft stressed about secret.

He let it slide.

"What does that have to do with you not reacting to the IV until three days after it was inserted?" The doctors had said she woken up before the IV incident, but that she never reacted to anything or tried to look around. Batman had figured that after being in the custody of the Guys in White, she had probably been scared spitless that any hospital bed she found herself in was only meant to feign comfort. Too scared to move; too scared to react; too scared to even look around.

_The Guys in White had a device that scrambles all of my nonhuman biology. Makes the human part default to normal. It finally wore out… and they weren't around to reissue it._

"How did you get into the custody of the Guys in White?"

To this question she shifted uncomfortably. It had no doubt been a scary experience for her and he gave her a moment to collect her bearings.

_I miscalculated._

He waited a while for her to elaborate, but no explanation came.

"What do you mean?"

_There were several incidents happening at the same time. Phantom was dealing with an incident in the Ghost Zone, my grandparents were dealing with some ghost refugees that were found out, Red Huntress' team of ghost hunters were dealing with the outbreak of a natural portal in the south end of Amity Park, and then on top of all that the Guys in White demanded to know why the town was in a sudden state of chaos. Things dominoed out of control and the Guys in White managed to blackmail me into taking the blame._

"What did you have to do with any of those incidents?"

_Nothing with Phantom. If nothing else had been going on I would have gone into the Ghost Zone just to find out what actually took place there that demanded his attention. My grandparents and Red Huntress like to know about that kind of stuff because current politics in the Ghost Zone can affect how many ghost outbreaks there are in Amity Park and throughout the rest of the world. I try to keep track of the things my grandparents do and tag along with them, and they had a small group of nonthreatening ghosts that couldn't stay in the Ghost Zone for reasons that they were trying to hide from the Guys in White, and my sister and I are part-time members of Red Huntress' team of ghost hunters._

It was interesting to hear her mention Phantom in a tone that made him sound normal, as if he were her uncle or something, but the fact that she mentioned a sister was even stranger, considering that the records J'onn found didn't reveal any such person.

"Nothing I have states that you have a sister."

_She's not my sister, we just call each other that. The Foley's and the Gray's own a significant percentage of my grandparents company and are family friends. Tucker Foley and Valerie Gray's daughter is Ataya Foley, my "sister."_ She air-quoted the last bit, and it seemed to take a large amount of effort on her part.

"You consider you two to be close?"

_My dad is missing and my mom died when I was two. Her dad practically raised me._

That might explain why some of her records were missing, but it was unlikely, they would have just been located elsewhere, and a digital search for her name would have avoided that issue. But all of this meant the Lily was technically an orphan, on top of being a metahuman.

"When you first woke up, you slipped out of my grasp like you could go through things. Is that part of being only half-human?"

_I'd rather not talk about it right now. It was a well kept secret until the Guys in White found out and blackmailed me._

Superpowers could be a touchy subject, there were a lot of controversial issues, and many different opinions on how individuals with different powers should be treated in society, whether or not they took advantage of them to become a superhero to help fight crime, or tried their hand at unfair personal gain. Even among members of the League it was a subject often danced around in casual conversations. It especially didn't help that there were organizations like the Guys in White or Project Cadmus that wished to totally eliminate anyone not considered "normal."

Batman was about to move on to the next question but she continued.

_It's hard to concentrate on answering you. My throat is killing me and I feel like I'm just mumbling without making any noise. I can explain more for you later, but yeah, there's a bunch of stuff related to that. Tell the doctors that they're right for not worrying about my body temp or heart rate. Also I heal fast. I expect to be out of here in a few days._

Batman nodded and continued, "What do you know about Phantom?"

_I know that I trust his judgment._

"Why?"

_Why not? He sure seems to have you pegged. He orchestrated an entire escape plan around you being curious about the Guys in White. Heck, he probably _made_ you interested in the Guys in White. He has you wrapped around his little finger. You. The Batman. Greatest member of the Justice League._

There was a very mischievous grin on her otherwise bandage-covered face, and suddenly Batman wondered how clever this girl really was. Maybe she didn't deserve the good cop treatment after all.

"What about Superman?" A raised eyebrow.

_Even I could beat Superman with both hands tied behind my back. Don't sell yourself short Batman._

She had given him volumes of information with that simple exchange. Exactly what kind of metahuman was she? And Phantom had might have planned the incident in Gotham, expecting Batman to get wise to the GIW. Batman already understood that the entire Colorado incident had been a ruse to get the Justice Leagues attention so he could pass Lily off to them after breaking her out, and take care of her in the Watchtower no less. She also revealed that she was sharp, and that three days drifting in and out of consciousness and heavy painkillers – then the pain itself after she refused the IV and any drugs – wasn't enough to blind her from Phantom's hand in her life. She _also_ claimed to be stronger than Superman, which was a direct statement and thus rather obvious, but in a way she was also inferring that Phantom could too, assuming that she wasn't underestimating Superman of course, or overestimating her own or Phantom's ability. But with the same breath that she claimed superiority to Superman, she expressed concern against Batman.

Add the fact that J'onn said she recognized him as a telepath, and that meant the girl knew her superheroes, perhaps a little too well. Batman was starting to wonder exactly how much of this had been orchestrated, and how much of that Lily knew about. If she trusted Phantom, then she would probably help him with whatever he asked, a rather obvious security hole. Arresting her and keeping her in one of the holding cells was an option, but not one he would ever favor; there was no evidence that she was a criminal of any sort. It would be necessary to keep eyes on her at all times. He would have to make up a schedule to swap out the Leaguers Lily-sitting. Of course, that would only be necessary if she required staying on the Watchtower, which he assumed she would have to because it would keep her from the prying eyes of the Guys in White.

"Now that you're getting better, we can move you to a safe-house back on ground."

_Please, no. All it would take is to walk past one of the Guys in White's sensors they put everywhere and they'd be able to track me down. They've probably already tried to cover all their bases by putting sensors all around the Metro Tower. Phantom says he can hardly go anywhere without noticing one anymore._ All mischievousness was wiped off her half-hidden face, and he could practically hear the desperation in her silent response.

Right, so much for that plan. If Phantom was as good at orchestrating plans as Lily seemed to believe, then the League was at a severe disadvantage with Lily staying here. He would have to run things over with Superman. Batman sighed, something he realized he was doing more often lately. He'd have to break that habit. There was also the slight oversight of what she had inferred. The Guys in White probably use the same sensors to find both Phantom and Lily.

"I'll talk with Superman about it."

_Is that all you wanted to ask?_ If she had been desperate before, there as no longer any hint of it. She now had a wide grin plastered over her face. She changed emotions fast, as if it were all an act.

"For now." He diverted his attention to his comm. link as he left the room. "Flash, are you busy?"

"_Does it matter if I say yes?_"

"No."

"_That's what I figured,_" annoyance was audible in Wally's voice, but it changed almost instantly, "_But it turns out that I just finished my shift and I was just about to head home._"

"Don't. You have a new assignment. Meet me at the medical wing."

True to his name, he was there in a flash.

"Wha'd'you want, Bats?"

"You get to entertain our new guest," Batman said, smugness in his voice as he pointed through the observation window into Lily's hospital room. "Her name's Lily and she's mute."

There was a frown on his face when the Flash saw all of the bandages she wore, but he quickly wiped it off as he walked in to introduce himself.

Flash might not have been Batman's favorite member of the League, but he was trustworthy, good at entertaining others, and hopefully capable of not losing a really clever blind girl.

Batman put a finger to his comm. link again.

"Superman, we need to talk."


	4. Chapter 4

So there's been a few complications at work and I have just a tiny bit more free time than I thought I did, so I'll post this.

Reviews:

Thanks ChopSuzi for the reviews on each chapter!

whowantstoknow: I really look forward to your reviews every chapter. What I meant about the mystery comment is that the real mystery of the story hasn't started yet, I kind of consider Lily a decoy mystery. I suppose I should have said that instead of being confusing. Also it totally slipped my mind that a lot of readers wouldn't have watched "every single episode" and might be fuzzy on some canon details with both the DCAU and DP. And just to state it for the record, everything I know about the Justice League comes from the DCAU, and the occasional glances at wiki articles to make sure I have my facts straight. Everything in this story is as close to DCAU canon as I can manage. In order to justify stuff from the DP canon like Phantom Planet, I figured that had to have happened before the Justice League was a thing, and even before Superman was well known and could have stopped the asteroid. Therefore, Danny was a teenager when he stopped the asteroid, probably just as Superman was planning to start his career, probably in his mid twenties, and DCAU seems to infer that Batman had been in the superhero business just a few years longer than Superman, probably putting him in his late twenties. Then skip forward about thirty years and Danny is in his forties, Superman and Batman are probably in their fifties, and Lily is seventeen. Events in this story are probably a few years after the JLU finale, which means that all of the Superman and Batman Adventures and Justice League and Justice League Unlimited happened within about a twenty five year span, which I hope is believable. That's also why the story focuses on Lily instead of Danny, because she's just a teenager and although very powerful, not any stronger than the enemies she'll face like I'd imagine her dad to be by now. I'd imagine Phantom's raw strength to be somewhat on par to Wonder Woman's. Maybe that's also a bit of a stretch. Hopefully not.

...

Flash tried to walk into the room with an air of confidence. He tried not to let the bandages on the girl's face and body get to him. There was always something sad about seeing teenagers in hospital rooms all bandaged up, or really anybody.

"Hi, I'm the Flash: Fastest Man Alive!"

The introduction awarded him a smile from Lily. At least she still has a pretty smile.

"So, um, your name is Lily?" Dang it, he lost the smooth talking persona and it only took him two lines. He mentally cursed his fastest-man-alive status for applying to all the negative things too.

She gave a nod.

"That's a pretty name." Flowers always seemed to make pretty names for girls. If he ever got married and had kids he'd like to name his daughter after a flower like Rose or Daisy or wait, focus Flash, on what's happening in front of you!

A frown appeared on Lily's face, and she tilted her head, trying to convey boredom. Such boredom also became apparent in the Flash's voice.

"So, uh, what do you want to do?" What could she do? The bandages covered her eyes so it wasn't like she could even see him. He wondered if she would be blind permanently, but then figured the League had some technology somewhere to prevent that.

Lily tried to say something to Flash, but the meaning was lost along with the sound.

"Sorry, I bet Batman was probably able to tell what you were saying, but I'm not that good at reading lips."

Lily bobbed her head side to side in annoyance.

"What about charades? I'm good at charades!" Flash said, suddenly excited. He was simply the best there was at charades.

Lily motioned with her hands writing on a piece of paper. The Flash disappeared, only to return a second later with a small notebook and pencil in hand. He pushed them into Lily's grasp.

"You sure you'll be able to write on that?" How would she be able to see what she was writing? If she could write then that meant she hadn't always been blind. He couldn't imagine suddenly going blind. That would be awful, there would be no more Flash to help out around Central City. Not to mention not being able to see ever again. That would suck too.

Lily responded with a message on the notebook's first page. It was scribbled and crooked, but the Flash managed to parse the words from it: _im starving_.

"Well why didn't you say so?" Flash said, grin apparent in his voice.

Lily made the bobbling motion again.

"What was that thing you just did?" He instantly regretted asking. Now he'd have to wait for her to write her answer down before continuing.

_me trying to roll my eyes under bandages_

"Right… let me just see if I can find a wheelchair."

A second later there was a sound of a wheelchair being rolled into the room. Flash helped Lily off of her bed into the chair. Even with his help it seemed to take all of her strength and concentration.

"Next stop: the Cafeteria!" Flash raced the wheelchair – at a more human speed – to the elevator, and with a hurricane of movement pressed the button to the cafeteria.

"So…" He always hated the elevator. There was an open space for Leaguers that could fly to get from floor to floor and stairs incase the elevator broke or power had been cut, although there were bigger problems to worry about in a space station if the power was cut. Flash usually took the stairs because with his super-speed they ended up faster and more comfortable to him than the elevator, but it wasn't like he could take Lily in a wheelchair up the stairs – in a comfortable manner for her at least. But the elevator was so boring and thinking about the cafeteria made him even hungrier than he usually was. Flash tried to decide what he was going to eat, but realized Lily would need help getting food for herself.

"You know what you want to eat?"

She tapped the pencil against her chin before writing her answer.

_something soft and cold_

"Sounds like you want a milkshake. Vanilla or chocolate?" A chocolate milkshake sounded good. But he thought the ice cream dispenser was too slow to wait for it to fill the twenty cups of ice cream that he wanted. Not to mention the last time he had ice cream the cafeteria workers yelled at him for emptying the machine ten minutes after they had filled it and also spilling a bunch of the ice cream when he forgot to put lids on a few of the cups. He would definitely not be having an ice cream shake, even though he was excited to make one for Lily. The dispenser only dispensed soft serve, and there was nothing to make it into a shake, but he got around that by putting a lid on the cup and shaking hard in his hand with super-speed. Oh wait, she was blind, she wouldn't be able to see him make the shake.

A giant _C_ was written on Lily's notepad. What did that stand – oh yeah, she wanted chocolate.

_Ding._ The elevator opened, filling it with the aroma of food. Lily's stomach growled in anticipation.

"Finally!" Flash voiced Lily's thoughts and rushed her to the ice cream dispenser.

"That's one Lightning Chocolate Flash Specialty." He said after shaking the cup hard for a few seconds – careful to make sure the lid was on nice and tight.

She smiled at him again and he remembered at the last possible second to grab a straw to put in the shake just before she would have realized it was missing.

"Almost forgot the straw." He wheeled her to a table and set off to find something to eat himself. He was back a few seconds later holding a plate piled high with cheeseburgers.

"Want a cheeseburger?" he asked, not waiting an answer as he got another plate to put one of the cheeseburgers on and slid it over to Lily.

She placed the notepad on the table and started writing on it while sucking on her milkshake in her other hand.

_thanks_ was written on top of the giant _C_.

"So how old are you, Lily?" Flash asked between burgers.

_17_ was written on top of the giant _C_ and the _thanks_, which made it barely legible.

Underage and too young to join the League, oh wait he didn't even know if she was a metahuman or not. Then again why would she be in the Watchtower hospital wing is she wasn't a metahuman? The Watchtower hospital wing sometimes took unique cases like that whenever a hospital on earth couldn't figure out how to care for the weird person that showed up in their ER. They also took care of the Leaguers free of charge, just like the food was free of charge, for the members anyhow. All of the facilities on the Watchtower were free to the metahumans. Well, at least the League members, he wasn't sure about the weird hospital cases that were flown in. Flash for one was grateful for the free food, it really cut down on his grocery bill at home when he could eat as much as he wanted here.

"You got any special powers?"

Lily thought hard before writing down her answer, thankfully remembering to turn the page in the notepad.

_only if being dead is considered a special power_

"What?" Flash exclaimed after reading the notebook, and also noting that it was getting easier to read, and not just because it wasn't written on top of other stuff. "But you're sitting right here talk– writing to me."

Lily smiled at his confusion, and Flash found it hard to tell if it was a smirk, since the rest of her face was covered. She took a big bite out of her cheeseburger, not bothering to write down an explanation. Flash wolfed down the rest of his cheeseburgers and brought Lily another shake when she reached the end of the first. She took it without question.

He watched Lily as she ate, she seemed to savor every last bite of her burger. She also seemed to have perked up a bit since getting out of the hospital room, no longer having to consciously drag herself through every movement, although it was hard to tell what kind of mood she was in or how well she was adjusting with half of her face covered in bandages. Out of boredom Flash grabbed the notebook to get a better look at it.

First page: _im starving_ was barely legible.

Second page: _me trying to roll my eyes under bandages_. A lot of the letters overlapped and lines were almost written on top of each other, but it was clear what she wrote.

Third page: _something soft and cold_. Fewer letters overlapped and it was neater in general.

On the fourth page the _C_, _thanks_, and _17_ were written overlapping each other.

The last page with writing had the _only if being dead is considered a special power_. Not only were the letters neater than before, almost resembling his own scribbled handwriting, but they were also written on the lines provided in the notebook. She couldn't see the lines, could she? Flash suddenly felt proud that he had made a deductive connection and blurted out asking if she could see before thinking about what he was saying.

"Can you see through the bandages?" Oops. He could have been more tactful.

Lily didn't seem to mind though and nodded. She motioned for the notebook again, and he gave it to her on a new page.

_yes and no_

_sort of a sixth sense_

_never worked like this before though_

_though to be fair Ive never been blind before either_

The letters were neat and clear, but not all of them matched up with a line, in fact it seemed a little crooked now. It must have just been a coincidence before.

Lily slurped her straw as she finished up her second shake. She waved the empty cup to signal that she wanted another.

"Another?!"

A nod.

Flash got her another Lightning Chocolate Flash Special. If she kept up like this she'd eat as much food as he did. He was pretty sure the other Leaguers would frown at another big eater like the Flash. He didn't want to lose his free meals.

He yawned. Flash had planned on crashing as soon as he got home, but now that he was babysitting, he could kiss that plan goodbye. He had to be up in six hours to get to work. His other work, as a forensic scientist. At least he was also a fast sleeper, if he could just get a few hours in. He really didn't want to have to call in sick; he wasn't sure he could do that too many more times without getting fired.

Lily pushed over her notepad.

_was that a yawn? you sound tired_

"I was ready to hit the hay but then I got babysitting duty. No offense."

_none taken I wouldn't mind if you took a nap but batman probably would I think he wants eyes kept on me 24/7_

"Why would he want that? You don't seem dangerous to me."

_haha you didn't hear what I told batman I basically called him a puppet_

"Why would you do that?! You don't just go making fun of Batman. Trust me, I've learned the hard way."

_Between you and me I did it so he would order to keep eyes on me Im paranoid flash if theres eyes on me all the time then maybe I wont disappear again_

"Again?"

_batman hasnt filled you in on anything yet has he?_

"Fill me in on what?"

_It doesn't matter just promise me you wont tell him though come to think of it he'll probably get his hands on this notepad regardless oh well_

"I could burn the notebook for you."

_I seriously doubt you would besides its not like Im trying to hide anything_

"Why ask me to not tell him if you think he's going to find out anyway?"

_it just doesn't seem like something that should be heard second hand_

Flash's comm. link went off, taking him by surprise like it always did.

"_Flash, you're needed in the conference room,_" Batman had said, "_Stargirl will be at the cafeteria to relieve you soon._"

"I'm needed elsewhere, so I guess you get to chat with Stargirl?" Flash said to Lily.

_K_

True to Batman's word, Stargirl appeared shortly afterword.

"Hi, I'm Stargirl," She exclaimed to Lily, and Flash saw that Lily was furiously writing in her notepad.

"Well, now that you're acquainted, I can go. Bye Lily," Flash said and left. He was at the conference room in a second. He didn't have to guess how Batman knew he was at the cafeteria, there were security cameras all over the Watchtower; in fact he was certain that when he opened the door he'd see Batman watching multiple screens of security footage.

He could barely contain the excitement when he walked in and saw he was right. The only thing he hadn't guessed was that Superman would be with him, but you win some, you lose some. The security footage itself showed that Batman had zoomed into the notepad specifically with one screen and had another focused on the table they had both sat at, while other screens showed something that didn't look like security at all. Okay, so maybe he wasn't entirely correct, but he was still mostly right, right?

"Burn it for her?" Batman asked rhetorically.

"What? I was just trying to get her to not look so stressed."

"She certainly is a good actor. Look how she's behaving with Stargirl." Superman added while studying the security footage. "She's completely different."

"Her handwriting got better too!" Flash added, excited to be able to add something to the growing mystery."

"I noticed," Batman answered.

Flash frowned. "Hey, you mind filling me in on who she is exactly?"

"You ever heard of FentonWorks?"

"You mean those wacky ghost hunters? Sure! I once had this weird green stuff in my chemical analysis quota at work, and I couldn't match it to anything so when I searched the net for similar stuff, I found out it was ectoplasm from one of their websites. Almost lost my job over that one."

Batman only raised an eyebrow.

"Hey, look! That's one of their websites right there!" Flash exclaimed while pointing at one of the monitors. It was open to a ghost information page explaining different types of ghosts. The Flash quickly read through what was visible. It seemed to be going on about complex theories behind what the similarities and differences were between different classes of ghosts, and really it just all went over his head.

"What do you think about her?" Superman asked.

"She seems pretty nice." Flash said as he sat down in one of the conference chairs – the one with his logo conspicuously painted on it. "That's not the only reason you wanted to talk to me, was it?"

"No." Superman said. "If she stays on the Watchtower while she recovers, she's a potential threat to security."

"What? Not Lily! She wouldn't hurt a fly."

"If you really believe that, then you wouldn't mind with helping fill out the roster to keep a guard posted with her at all times?" Batman asked.

"Well, uh, I mean, no? Would you mind filling me in a little more?"

"We found her as a prisoner to a secret government agency." Batman said.

"You mean like Cadmus? Don't you remember Long Shadow? He was cool."

"Yes we do remember Long Shadow, even if the circumstances were slightly different."

"Different as in more in Lily's favor."

"I have reason to believe this entire situation we're in was orchestrated." Batman countered, "If that's the case than we don't know for what reason it was planned for us to take her."

"So she could be like a spy. I get that." Flash said, frowning. He always hated when the other founders started sounding condescending to him. He was able to keep up with what was happening. He was a forensic scientist after all. "Why isn't she in one of the holding cells then?"

"Because we don't know one way or the other, on top of the fact that she's injured and needs immediate medication attention." Superman answered.

Right, innocent until proven guilty, and Batman didn't need a lot of evidence to prove her guilty, which meant that if she really was a spy then she really had her bases covered.

"We want your vote on whether or not you think it's safe to keep her here as long as there are guards posted with her twenty-four/seven. We already talked to the rest of the founders while you were with Lily and got their votes."

"Is there a reason she can't go back to the ground?"

"She claims she'll be in danger if she goes back to ground-side. Otherwise it would be a non-issue."

"I bet you already know my vote."

"Then it's settled."


End file.
